Self-Aware Image

"The notion of the painting as an art object is a relatively recent invention. This book offers an impressive and complex account of the origins and development of this invention from the late Renaissance through the end of the baroque age. In comparison to the "old" image characterized by its preeminently liturgical function and its display in a predetermined space, the painting as the "new" image is increasingly autonomous and movable. As a modern art object, the painting becomes the focus of an aesthetic contemplation through its insertion into a gallery or a collection. As a result of the…